Healthcare Industry News: Ampion

News Release - March 25, 2008

IRVINE, Calif., March 25 (HSMN NewsFeed) -- Masimo (Nasdaq: MASI ), the inventor of Pulse CO-Oximetry and Measure-Through Motion and Low Perfusion pulse oximetry, today announced an agreement with Switzerland-based Schiller, a leading European manufacturer and supplier of electrocardiographs, spirometers, patient monitors and external defibrillators, to integrate the Masimo Rainbow SET technology platform as the foundational technology of choice for all their patient monitoring solutions worldwide.

"Our leading position in the world market is based on a history of implementing new technologies and innovative first-class solutions that create long-term value for our customers and their patients," said Schiller AG CEO, Alfred Schiller. "Masimo understands the importance of cutting-edge technologies in our market and has combined the most advanced noninvasive technology and capabilities with the best user benefits available into a technology platform that maximizes long-term value."

The ability to quickly and continuously measure SpHb, SpOC, SpMet, SpCO, PVI, SpO2, PR, and PI noninvasively may help clinicians to save lives by more rapidly diagnosing potentially life-threatening conditions, speeding treatment decisions and improving patient outcomes. SpHb may make hemoglobin testing quick, convenient and accessible to medical personnel in both acute and outpatient settings -- enabling them to quickly identify conditions of anemia, or blood loss. The availability of real-time continuous SpOC may help to ensure optimal oxygen delivery in patients during rapidly-changing clinical situations.

By continuously and noninvasively monitoring SpMet, clinicians can accurately determine if drugs they are administering are causing methemoglobinemia, which can lead to brain damage and even death. Similarly, the ability to measure SpCO allows clinicians to detect elevated levels of carboxyhemoglobin that can be caused by everything from desiccated soda lime (known as "Monday Morning Phenomena"), or other poisons that can be introduced during surgery, to smokers reporting for surgery with high SpCO values. Increased SpCO compromises healing and may lead to death, while smokers with residual elevated COHb at the time of anesthesia are at cardiac ischemic risk. PVI provides clinicians with a continuous and noninvasive quantified measurement of changes in the perfusion index -- indicating a change in a patient's physiologic condition, which may compromise cardiac function and affect systemic circulation -- with potential clinical applications for noninvasive hypovolemia detection and fluid responsiveness monitoring.

"Establishing Masimo Rainbow SET as the technology engine for Schiller's patient monitoring, emergency medicine and rescue solutions enables us to provide a dynamic new set of clinical capabilities that expand the physiological data and options available to clinicians and caregivers -- allowing them to better care for their patients," stated Dominik Doppler, VP, Marketing, Sales and Business Development at Schiller. "This is a compelling value proposition for the global healthcare market."

At the heart of Masimo Rainbow SET is the world's most accurate and reliable pulse oximetry technology -- Masimo SET. More than 100 independent and objective studies demonstrate that Masimo SET provides the most trustworthy SpO2 and pulse rate measurements even under the most difficult clinical conditions, including patient motion and low peripheral perfusion. Before the introduction of Masimo SET in 1995, pulse oximetry was reliable only when patient conditions were ideal -- on motionless patients with strong pulses and good perfusion. However, in the presence of patient motion, a weak pulse or low perfusion, excessive false alarms reduced the value of conventional pulse oximetry. Since then, Masimo SET Measure-Through Motion and Low Perfusion pulse oximetry has made continuous, noninvasive monitoring by pulse oximetry more reliable and clinically-relevant than ever before.

Joe E. Kiani, Chairman and CEO of Masimo, stated "Schiller has been a long-term partner with us and was one of the early-adopters of Masimo SET technology. Once again, as an early-adopter of Masimo Rainbow SET technology, Schiller represents a growing global community of Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEMs) who are embracing and standardizing to Masimo Rainbow SET as the noninvasive patient monitoring technology of the future. They are market leaders and global chAmpions for innovation, patient safety and quality of care who make the world safer for patients everywhere. We appreciate the vision, leadership and commitment of Schiller and we are proud of our partnership."

About Masimo

Masimo (Nasdaq: MASI ) develops innovative monitoring technologies that significantly improve patient care -- helping solve "unsolvable" problems. In 1995, the company debuted Measure-Through Motion and Low Perfusion pulse oximetry, known as Masimo SET, and with it virtually eliminated false alarms and increased pulse oximetry's ability to detect life-threatening events. More than 100 independent and objective studies demonstrate Masimo SET provides the most trustworthy SpO2 and pulse rate measurements even under the most difficult clinical conditions, including patient motion and low peripheral perfusion. In 2005, Masimo introduced Masimo Rainbow SET, a breakthrough noninvasive blood constituent monitoring platform that can measure many blood constituents that previously required invasive procedures. Rainbow SET continuously and noninvasively measures total hemoglobin (SpHb(TM)) and oxygen content (SpOC(TM)) (both pending FDA clearance), carboxyhemoglobin (SpCO(TM)), methemoglobin (SpMet(TM)), and pleth variability index (PVI(TM)), in addition to oxyhemoglobin (SpO2), perfusion index (PI) and pulse rate, allowing early detection and treatment of potentially life-threatening conditions. Founded in 1989, Masimo has the mission of "Improving Patient Outcomes and Reducing Cost of Care by Taking Noninvasive Monitoring to New Sites and Applications." Additional information about Masimo and its products may be found at http://www.masimo.com.

Forward Looking Statements

This press release may include forward-looking statements. These forward-looking statements are based on current expectations about future events affecting us and are subject to uncertainties and factors, all of which are difficult to predict and many of which are beyond our control, including: risks related to our assumption that this agreement with Schiller and their adoption of Masimo technology will serve to substantially increase revenues, risks related to our assumption that Masimo's new noninvasive measurements -- total hemoglobin (SpHb(TM)) and oxygen content (SpOC(TM)) -- will deliver a sufficient level of clinical improvement over alternative hemoglobin testing capabilities to allow for rapid adoption of the technology and risks related to our assumptions regarding the timing or commercial availability of SpHb and SpOC, and will be timely cleared, if ever, by appropriate regulatory bodies, as well as other factors discussed in the "Risk Factors" section of our annual report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 29, 2007, filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission on March 4, 2008. Although we believe that the expectations reflected in our forward-looking statements are reasonable, we do not know whether our expectations will prove correct. You are cautioned not to place undue reliance on these forward- looking statements, which speak only as of the date hereof. We do not undertake any obligation to update, amend or clarify these forward-looking statements or the risk factors contained in our annual report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 29, 2007, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, except as may be required under the federal securities laws.